


Free Running

by Seraph_Years



Category: Furry (Fandom), Original Work
Genre: No Dialogue, POV Third Person Limited, Tags Contain Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:33:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28599270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Seraph_Years
Summary: The journey of a familiar feline through cities and civilizations lost to the sands of time.Or just an excuse for me to flex my writing style, I don't know
Kudos: 1





	1. Route 1

The massive castle that stands before him... It's a breathtaking fortress for sure. Taylor wanted in so badly and now was the perfect chance to enter. Problem is, danger could be afoot and the castle is only seven feet away. With nothing left to turn back to - having made it this far, Taylor speeds his way down there running. As he always has.

Approaching the castle, several four-legged creatures approach him. Taylor keeps them back with a hail of steel spikes from above, summoned with a cloud. His powers still exist within him, showing that he hasn't lost his touch. The doors on his right tell him to keep moving, so he does. 

Arriving at the old church -- wait, that didn't seem right. It was a castle before, why is it a church now? Anyways, Taylor waited patiently for any sign of danger. Perfectly drawing his weapon, a firearm with sword properties, he pointed it here and there as if he knew someone was coming.

And he was right.

Arctic fox out of nowhere, jumping through an unscathed window to attack Taylor. A Bengal turned black cat due to the ever-changing nature of the surroundings, he was. Taylor dived out of the way, weaving around the gunshots. He converts his weapon to a sword by turning its gears, then rushes after her. Clashing with every blow, they fiercely competed for an element that wasn't there. Nervous with every blow, he could only pause to take a moment to spare his own psyche. A stray slash froze the vulpine and turned her into liquid.

An illusion? Only mirages do that. A splash upon death. If Taylor were to encounter more enemies like that...

Proceeding through the church's lone shadow sees a door that Taylor kicks open, narrowly missing what appeared to be his own reflection...

Nope. It vanished. What sort of unsightly mystery could be unfolding here, with Taylor all alone fighting mere replicas?

Walk through the door. See through the window. The next thing he knew, another door off to the side. The dark wood made it hard to see exactly what was and what wasn't. It felt so lonely in there and yet that's all that Taylor knew. The fox wasn't real. The illusion wasn't real - his peripheral vision was playing tricks with his eyes.

Off to the edge of the castle. How was he already this high up there? He had all the questions in the world and yet, nobody to answer him. Welcome to Route 1, he guessed.

Running. Just that. Running. A couple of voices could be heard rambling about some "Let your voice be heard" but that violated the very purpose of the Route. That went against his entire reason for coming here. Exploration with peace and quiet. No talking.

The edge of the room took him to the right wing of the castle. Why was he teleporting everywhere? Nobody knows. Nobody but Taylor, and even then his memory of the transport was blank. The forces running the castle were unknown to him, even. Though he did look to his right and see a red fox wearing a dark hoodie taking the same Route he is, slaying the four-legged creatures that he froze in place. Taylor wondered. Was that fox after _him_ , too? Could he be just like that illusion that attacked him?

Just then, a metallic monstrosity compiled itself in front of Taylor, the cat looking to his front to see it. He takes out another gun and points it at it. But it wasn't really around to attack Taylor. Indeed, Taylor plants his sword on the ground and keeps pointing. When the monster took a swipe, he jumped, spun around half a dozen times fast, and used his sword to lacerate the giant, disassembling it.

A space-like portal then emerged in front of him, causing his sword - which contains fourteen moving parts - to react to it. The circle at the center of it opens up and the blade turns blue. He thought closely to arrange his thoughts and make the platforms appear. Move to the other side. Carefully but closely, the platforms appear at his whim and shift around to match his destination. With nothing to lose, he takes a brave step forward...

And sees himself at the other side, closing a book. Just another enigma.

On the other side of _that_ platform was a lone platform holding a treasure chest. Another step, another warp. He opens the chest... and a hand made up of an all-too-familiar force disarms his gun. He uses his sword to cut the hand apart and reveal the true prize:

Several game cartridges.

* * *

Nighttime. The moon was brighter than usual here in Route 1.

Taylor finds himself on the roof of the structure. Now he knows the name of the fortress he's been exploring the whole time.

"Citadel"

Before he has time to look around, a gigantic robot with the words "Absolute Zion" on its chest plate emerges and nearly crushes Taylor underneath its giant hand.

Taylor takes out his sword and starts beating up on it, but his attacks don't do much. Another slightly smaller robot with the words "Astraguanine" on its chest plate then emerges and starts duking it out with the bigger robot. Eager to watch the steel goliaths fight, Taylor jumps to a distant castle tower and observes the action.

On the same platform Taylor was once standing on are two cats. The police gear on the spotted feline along with the distinct markings on the other along with the magician's garb struck Taylor as familiar. He never thought that their world would cross over with this one. Yet, nobody except him had names...

The _felis_ were fighting a silhouetted mammal vaguely resembling a hyena, named the Divider. Fireballs and lightning projectiles littered the battlefield, with the two rustbuckets in the background slugging each other like nothing was happening.

Then, Taylor got an idea.

He converted his sword into a bow and pulled the string. The projectile appearing on it supercharged into an electric shockwave as it flew from the bow.

Zion's head flew off its body upon impact and struck Astraguanine, startling the Divider. This got the spotted feline to surprise her by trapping her in a bubble. The floating orb flew up high above the Citadel and impacted her with lightning multiple times, scattering her vanishing essence all over the Citadel.

Mission accomplished on both sides. Taylor designated codenames to the two cats; "313" for the mage, and "1091" for the police officer. Prime numbers, easy to go by.

313 then sprouted wings and kicked Astraguanine hard enough to cave its metal in, damaging its internals. It fell over with a loud crash, never to move or be heard from again.

A wildcat-looking feline, designated "229", enters the Citadel and immediately heads forward instead of turning left.

* * *

Did you know that several of the Prime Numbers have their bare images carved into statues, their work featured on the Calendar of the Season?

After running past a strangely technologically-advanced hallway, 229 discovers this Calendar hanging on the wall above a desk with a lamp light on. On the walls beside it were two bookshelves with books in them reading titles like "Advancements in Art: How to Make Your Sketch Count" on the left wall and on the right wall "Shape your Story: 20 Ways to Captivate your Readers".

_Self-help books? Well, I got the art part covered..._

Out of nowhere, Taylor shows his face - hanging by a ledge on the ceiling, greeting 229 as he stumbles back in surprise. Taylor says that he got here through a secret entrance in the Citadel and that he never knew 229 would be in a place like this. He then turns over and sees the Calendar.

_Now this is the stuff of legends. Just owning one makes me feel special to be around the ones that contributed to it._

229 asks what his deal with the Prime Numbers is, as they were the ones that partially made the item. Taylor replies saying that he's going to meet everyone who contributed to the project. He's already talked with a Prime Number named "1523". She was a real nice one, he said, though she wasn't around much.

229 thinks to himself, _All twelve of them? Is that your plan? I couldn't even reach the large majority of the ones that had done what they did._

Taylor says that he doesn't need to worry about getting repulsed by them since payment in exposure is often enough to express thanks to these humble ones. He then wishes to see him again in February.

_This is the real deal, with the numbers deciding names. You haven't seen a club like this before, full of professionals who manifest their words in a graceful manner, fitting of a world unlike most others. Still, though. There is much I haven't uncovered here in Route 1._

When Taylor got outside, it was daytime and not nighttime like it was before. Additionally, 229 was gone. Route 1 was once again as dry as a dune.

* * *

Several days have passed here. By the time the flow of time slowed to a halt, Taylor was on top of a mysterious structure, surrounded by ruins.

_I do have to ask why Father Time or whoever runs this show trapped me in that cocoon, making me see things from other worlds. Anyways..._

Positioned on his front, in the center of the ruin-like platform, was an orange box wrapped in metal. It seemed like it could be opened.

_Alright, I think I've gotten intel on this kind of thing before. You need a certain artifact in order to open it. Now which one could it be...? Wait, I know! The Junction system! Oh man did I use to love this back when everyone had it! Let's see..._

He infuses #788 with a plant whip called Smile Flower and wraps it around the box. Pulling as hard as he can, he eventually stumbles back and falls over; the whip fell out of his right paw.

_Well that didn't work._

He then tries doing the same thing with #509. When he starts pulling, the whip actually flies out of his paw, forcing him to summon it back by snapping his fingers.

_Alright, continue being stubborn. I got just the thing for you._

#800. This time he uses his mind to try and dismantle the box. It moves five inches to the right.

_Okay, it moved. What's next? I want to OPEN it, not MOVE it._

#1099. Same technique, this time it doesn't even budge.

_Alright, alright. I suppose only the maker of this thing can unearth its secrets..._

#1134. This time...

_Ah, it opened!_

The box's outer layer cracks open, revealing some text on the side reading "abyssinian"

_Nah, can't be. All the cats I used on this thing didn't look anywhere near CLOSE to that breed. Besides, the thing is still half-closed. Should I investigate further, or....?_


	2. Route 2

A brightly lit highway bridge. The night sky is illuminated with a thousand bright dots, each filling the sky with more ornaments than can fit on a Christmas tree. The cars passing through don't seem to mind the passerby seeing as how there's a sidewalk for pedestrians to walk on.

Taylor landed in the middle of that highway, looking around for somewhere to go. Aimlessly walking forward, his steps were interrupted by an incoming missile off to the side. His eyes followed the projectile as it then came around and rocketed towards Taylor. 

Cautiously, Taylor grabs the missile and attempts to halt its speedy path of destruction. He then throws it upward after slowing it down and out jumps a fox. 

_Why another fox, right here, right now?_

Wearing a plain black shirt with a strange-looking frozen treat on it - but that's not the most important part of his appearance. The important part is his necklace, which Taylor hasn't seen anything like. _Is that what I think it is?_

Nope, it was red; spherical in nature. Completely distinguishable from the one he's used to. Speaking of blue necklaces, Taylor seemed to lack his, though he said to himself that he would get it later on in his journey. _But when?_

His train of thought was interrupted when the vulpine held his paw close to his face. A golden, ornate sigil lit up and flashed the face of 313.

_Wait, what are his connections...? Could everyone in this interconnected universe be tied to--_

Taylor felt a stray paw hit his face. For some indescribable reason, this cross fox, dubbed 311, was attacking him.

_311? Could he perhaps be from the same set as 313, being that their numbers are so similar?_

Taylor blocked the next move and countered with a kick. Feeling the flow of time slow down, he jumped up and followed up with a swing of his weapon.

311 flies back, shaking off the recoil. He feels the presence of someone else and sprouts wings. He then charges at the new competitor on the right, one of the metallic monsters that haunted Route 1.

_Why do those robots keep following me around? What do they have against the Prime Numbers?_

The robot, named Astracytosine, tells 311 that it's been expecting someone of such high caliber, given his penchant for the visual arts.

_The visual arts? Does that mean...?! Oh no..._

311 fires back saying that constructs like Astracytosine and others like it are a waste of space. Interfering with the duties of those who create as a hobby, they only walk the worlds to destroy and culminate.

_Well? Who could possibly be behind such malevolent automata?_

311 also points out that if "1993" wanted to come down here himself then he would. Besides, his presence is among them.

_Who is 1993, and why are they so important to these wicked contrivances? I do not recall building or commissioning or activating these things._

Taylor is quick to dart out of there when suddenly 313 appears and nearly knocks him over. She flies up and bashes Astracytosine hard enough to knock it over. She then follows it to the depths where they fight a one-sided battle. 

Taylor makes his exit quick by jumping on one of the moving cars.

* * *


End file.
